


world on fire

by musicalphrase



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Caleb Widogast Needs a Hug, Coda: Episode 128, Gen, Marion can do that, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, please heed warnings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-06
Updated: 2021-03-06
Packaged: 2021-03-19 08:07:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 785
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29871654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/musicalphrase/pseuds/musicalphrase
Summary: Marion knows what this is. And maybe, just maybe, she knows how to help.
Relationships: Caleb Widogast & Marion Lavorre
Comments: 19
Kudos: 119





	world on fire

**Author's Note:**

> Please be warned: within this story is a detailed depiction of a severe panic attack, and a crisis response. 
> 
> This is not meant to be a "How To" on how to best support someone through a mental health crisis of any kind, and please do not read this as such. This story depicts a woman, on the verge of her own crisis, supporting someone through their own crisis as best she knows how. Marion takes risks that I would normally not recommend taking. Please, when supporting someone in crisis, remember to keep yourself safe. 
> 
> This story deals with depictions of PTSD flashbacks, anxiety and panic related disorders. Please use self-governing and self-care when determining whether this fic is appropriate for you.

They land in a world on fire.  
  
Marion has heard of places like these. She has regaled her many clients with stories about fantastical realms far from the reaches of the Material Plane, where adventure awaits only the bravest of hearts. She told the stories. She never once desired to seek out the places from the stories herself.  
  
But before the panic can rise in her throat, a blur of motion catches her eye as one of Jester’s friends – Caleb? That’s his name surely – crumbles to his knees, vacant eyes starring out into the fire around them. Marion has seen this before. She’s seen it in the soldiers she has taken as clients especially. And she knows what to do next.  
  
Coming up to him from the side, Marion gently guides Caleb into a sitting position. She takes her place at his back, and threads her right arm under his right arm, hand coming to rest firmly on his chest. She is taking a risk – she doesn’t know if he will respond well to touch, but when he makes no move against her, she continues and places her left hand on his stomach, under his left arm. And she begins to take long, slow inhales, in through her nose, out through her mouth.  
  
And it looks strange perhaps, a woman holding a man like she was, arms positioned in a way so as not to restrain but reassure, but when Caleb’s breathing begins to match the slow pulls of her own steady breathing, she knows she’s on the right track. So she begins to speak.  
  
“You’ve done it. Whatever is chasing us, you’ve gotten us away. You’ve protected us from whatever monster you are running from, we have you to thank for our lives, Caleb, come back to your friends, they are here and they are worried for you dear, come back to them.”  
  
She feels the explosion of sound before it reaches her ears, the inhale before an inhuman scream wrenches itself from the depths of Caleb’s soul. Even still, she holds on, tears rising in her eyes. This isn’t the usual response to stress, she recognizes it like she recognizes her own mental demons.  
  
So she starts to sing.  
  
She only knows a few Zemnian folks songs, but the one that comes to her lips she learned from a Zemnian woman who had found her way to working at the Chateau many years ago, when she was just beginning to realize that Jester would be coming into and changing her life forever. It had brought her comfort then. She only hoped it would help now.  
  
“ _Der Mond ist aufgegangen,_  
_Die goldnen Sternlein prangen_  
_Am Himmel hell und klar_.”  
  
And just like that the screaming stopped. Marion sang on.  
  
After a few verses, she felt a shudder rip through the body in her arms, as words began to reach her ears.  
  
“Thank- th-thank- th-th-thank you,” Caleb gasped, his hands hot to the touch coming up, to hold her own. Marion bites back the tears in her eyes, and takes a deep inhale before speaking herself.  
  
“Of course Caleb. You’re with us now?” she asked, gentle sympathy in her words.  
  
“I- ja. I am. Yes. I- thank you. I have to… I have to finish something,” he replies, and Marion releases her hold on him. Caleb surges to his feet, before stumbling a few steps away and gasping out the ritual to create the dome.  
  
Marion watches the wizard, his struggle clear on his face. So focused on him was she that she didn’t notice Jester's approach, concern and fear painted across the freckles on her nose.  
  
“Mama?” she asks, and as Marion turns to face her Sapphire, the full extent of the day crashes down on her head and suddenly it’s hard to breathe again.  
  
And right when she realizes that her own panic is beginning to overwhelm her, the temperature shifts around them and someone is taking her hand and placing it on their chest, and Marion looks up to find the red rimmed, but determined blue eyes of the man she had been helping only minutes before. He takes a long, slow, deliberate breath, in through his nose, and out through his mouth, and she can feel the expansion of his lungs under her hand, and it is startling how grounding the motion is.  
  
“Nothing can come in without my permission,” he says, voice raw and ragged. And the vibrations of his voice rumble under her palm, and she knows, with certainty, that they will keep one another safe.  
  
And as she looks into fierce, determined blue eyes, Marion knows that he is making her a promise: They will survive this. Together.

**Author's Note:**

> The song Marion sings is a traditional German folksong called Der Mond ist aufgegangen. It is a beautiful lullaby, that I imagine Caleb knew from his childhood.
> 
> And yes, I know, I posted earlier today. This particular episode resonated with me on many levels, and I only hope that in-game Caleb and Marion both get the support they need.


End file.
